One thing Endicott’s Jalen Echevarria and Jeffrey Hill have in common is they both lead the men’s basketball team in scoring. Something else the pair shares: a love for the city of Lynn.
Growing up in Lynn, both Echevarria, a sports management major, and Hill, a business management major, could always be found with a ball in their hands.
Though they each grew up in the city, and wound up playing college basketball together, their paths to Endicott differed.
If Echevarria wasn’t hooping, he often attended St. Mary’s boys basketball games growing up.
He moved to Peabody, but attended KIPP until the seventh grade. He initially thought a high school in Peabody was in his future, but his father had a different idea.
“My dad said to me – we’re going to enroll you at St. Mary’s,” Echevarria said. “We think it is a great opportunity for you.”
Admittedly, Echevarria said he was initially mad at the decision to enroll at St. Mary’s. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to stay in Lynn, but rather, he didn’t want to follow the dress code.
“At the time, I was so mad because I did not want to wear a uniform to school anymore. It was not even about sports, it was just about the dress code,” Echevarria said.
Little did he know, he fell in love with the school immediately. 1,507 points and a state championship later as a Spartan, and his St. Mary’s legacy was complete.
“At the end of the day, I went to St. Mary’s and I really loved it,” Echevarria said.
Hill, on the other hand, went a different route – one impacted by the pandemic.
Hill attended Lynn Classical for three years, but heading into his senior year, the pandemic shut down basketball at the school. Wanting to continue playing, he eventually did so at Springfield Commonwealth Academy.
As high school seniors, when it came down to where they’d want to spend the next four years, they both credited Endicott’s recruitment team.
“Throughout my senior year season, Endicott was the school that was always showing up to my home games, and [the Gulls] were the college that would frequently be in contact with me. I felt like they really wanted me,” Echevarria said. “I fell in love with the school, and I fell in love with the team.”
For Hill, it was the same thing.
“They [the Gulls] reached out the most consistently,” Hill said. “They showed love. I just felt it was the place to be. It was not too far from home.”
On the court, both Echevarria and Hill are having success. Hill, a freshman, played his first four games off the bench, however, after a 24-point performance against Middlebury, Hill has started every game since. He’s been named Commonwealth Coast Conference Rookie of the Week three times this season.
Echevarria, a senior, has been on a scoring tear as of late. The guard scored a season-high 32 points in a December 3 win against Suffolk, and was named to the 2022 Big 4 Challenge All-Tournament Team. Over the past four years, he’s averaged 17.2 points per game, shooting 45.4 percent from the field.
Whether they’re hooping at Endicott, or a local corner store in Lynn, Echevarria and Hill are always representing where they came from.
“I ride Lynn until I die, always representing Lynn,” Hill said.
“Everywhere I go, I am always representing Lynn. Even though I moved out of Lynn, Lynn has taught me everything I know,” Echevarria said. “Lynn is the heart of where I am from.”
Mark Aboyoun can be reached at [email protected]
